"Explain yourself," Niko demanded from beside me. We currently were in the throne room, only Niko was sitting on the throne while I sat at a smaller seat on his right side. Gio was kneeling on the ground before us, but besides him no one else was in the room. I assumed it was because the subject was about me and Niko wanted all things about me to be secretive.

I looked from Gio's now healthy form to Niko curiously. Kol had switched to Niko some point during the day while he slept beside me. Whereas Kol had been wildly angry and possessive, Niko was concerned for me and held his anger for Gio coldly. Niko had also apologized for Kol's bites, which only made me blush because I'd asked for them.

"The Lady is not at fault," Gio began and Niko interrupted.

"Oh, I do not blame my intended at all, Sir Giovanni," Niko said swiftly before narrowing his eyes. "You're the daemon. Now explain yourself." Gio remained kneeling so that I couldn't see his face. I wished he could be allowed to stand. It hurt to see him so undignified.

"The Lady wished to attend the festival, so I escorted her to said festival in secret without obtaining permission from Your Highness," Gio admitted honestly. I blushed immediately, expecting Niko to turn to me angrily, but he didn't seem to be surprised. Had he known of our antics all along? It made me think that maybe Kol had allowed it, despite his usual attitude.

"Go on," Niko said boredly.

"During the trip, I noticed five assassins following the Lady and was able to lure them away before stopping them from their task. In the process, I was injured by shadow blades. I would have gone to get my injuries taken care of, but I hadn't seen where the Lady went to, so I went first to her room in order to make sure she was alright," Gio explained in detail what I hadn't even known. I was startled to find out that there were five assassins sent after me after I'd already had two prior attacks; three if you counted Lady Aurora. Was it really so dangerous being by the Prince's side?

"I asked her for blood to heal my wounds," Gio continued shortly. "She agreed, which allowed me to be able to bypass the protections of the Prince's mark."

"And you marked her," Niko growled angrily.

"I took the chance and I marked her," Gio confirmed.

"Why?" Niko asked and Gio glanced up at me for a moment, pausing. I tensed under his stare. "Look away, Giovanni, and tell me why did you mark the intended of the Prince of Seola." Gio looked down once more but with renewed determination.

"Because I am in love with her, Prince Nikolas," Gio confessed openly. I was startled entirely. I knew sometimes Gio acted more than friendly, but I had been naïve in what it meant since the start. Even now, I couldn't understand it.

"You'd better watch what comes out of your mouth, Giovanni," Niko warned, but Gio only continued anyway.

"I've been in love with her since I first saw her two years ago at the Adara Estate," Gio stated and I sat up straighter. Two years ago? I hadn't met any daemon except for Prince Nikolas when I'd lived at home... except for when I'd glance at them from afar in the night. Had I spotted Gio before or rather had he spotted me? "The night you took her as your intended... I knew I had to rid myself of my feelings, but as time proved, I was unable."

"That's enough," Niko interrupted Gio before he could explain more about his feelings towards me.

"I know your engagement is forced and irrational. You're probably holding her against her will, threatening her family to keep her from leaving, but now that is all over. I have marked Lady Rin. I will stand between you and her, if that's what she wishes, and I will not keep her in a land that has been trying to kill her since day one-," As Gio spoke, Niko stood and stepped down towards him before swiftly swiping at his face with his claws.

"You will do nothing. You will be nothing. Lady Corrine is not yours, not to protect, not to save... she is not yours in any way, mark or not," Niko declared with cold determination, "I'm sure an eternity in a cage somewhere will remind you of that."

"Niko!" I called out, my hands wringing together anxiously. Niko turned to glance at me, allowing me an opening to speak, "I do agree that... that my heart belongs only to you, to Prince Nikolas, and to no one else. B-but I don't wish Gio... Sir Giovanni to be confined for the crime of trying to help me. Please, Prince Nikolas."

Niko looked conflicted as he peered at my pleading face and I couldn't help but think of how lucky it was for Gio that Kol had slipped away during this time. I highly doubted Kol would've taken as much time to even think it over before decided on Gio's doom immediately.

After a moment, Niko sighed unhappily.

"Fine," He said to me before turning to Gio coldly, "Giovanni Aleron, I denounce you of your title of Knight 1st Class. I strip you of your honor and your last name. You are no longer a Knight of this palace nor your own person. You are a slave under Lady Corrine Adara and nothing more than her paramour from now on. Do you understand?"

I was shocked. Wasn't it just as harsh to strip him of everything he was than to lock him in a cage somewhere? And to place him as my slave? What did this mean? Paramour? What did that mean? I was sitting on the edge of my seat with confusion.

"I understand," Gio replied before beginning to strip himself of the armor he wore, down to a ring with a crest on his finger. He left himself dressed only in the fabrics of his under armor clothes, which made him look far more human than usual.

"Stand, Giovanni," Niko ordered and Gio did as he said. "You will rest in the slave quarters from now on. Go inform them and make the move, now." Niko dismissed him firmly and Gio's eyes briefly caught my worried ones before he bow stiffly and turned to leave.

Niko glared at his receding form without moving. After a moment, I stood to walk up to Niko, reaching for his hand and his attention. His crimson eyes slowly rolled away from where Gio used to be and turned to my form instead, warming almost instantly. I smiled at him adoringly.

"Will you walk with me?" I asked politely and hopefully. "To a garden?"

Niko couldn't even pretend to hesitate.

"Yes, I will," He agreed far too quickly.

As we walked towards the nearest garden, questions began to burn my mind. I tried to be patient, but Niko was the only person who was likely to answer them.

"Niko, what's a paramour?" I asked innocently. Niko tensed beside me.

"It's what Royals call their lovers or companions," He answered stiffly. Before I could express surprise, he continued, "Because daemon life is eternal as long as they aren't killed by our weaknesses, it's expected for them to have doxies and paramours. A doxy is a lover for male royals and a paramour is for female royals. Does that answer your question, Rin?"

There was something grumpy in the way he answered. I was taken aback.

"But I don't want a paramour," I answered with a frown, "I want just you." Niko seemed to inflate with reassurance as soon as I said the words, but still shook his head.

"If I wasn't going to contain him, I had to make him yours in order to overturn the power status he was given by marking you," He explained and I was only left with more questions. I touched the marks on my neck curiously.

"What exactly is a mark then? I thought it was just a scar... like a brand or something," I asked.

Niko opened a door that led into a large dark garden in the night. I stepped ahead, but as soon as he came with me, I clung tighter to him as though nervous. It always felt like the land of Seola itself wanted to devour me.

"When a daemon marks you, a small piece of their shadow is left with you. It spreads over your skin like a thin layer of a shield, and it protects you from being fed on from others. It also can be sensed, so other daemons know not to harm you unless they want to face horrible consequences," Niko said easily, speaking of shadows as though this weren't a topic banned from conversation.

"Ah! What's a shadow, then?" I asked, stepping in front of Niko excitedly. He smirked uncomfortably.

"A shadow is our soul," Niko said swiftly, making me pause in my step.

"Your soul?" I asked, holding my hand to my chest as though I could feel my own soul.

"Seraphim have their light. It's what you use to transfer energy from one spirit to another. Daemons have their shadow. They can hide in it if they can shade like Kol does. They can use a small piece to mark someone. And they can use a larger, more dangerous part when giving their blood to someone as Kol did with you. He essentially gave you a piece of our soul to save you," Niko told me carefully.

Niko lifted a branch to a low hanging tree and waited for me to walk through before following me. With the limbs hanging down, it was hard to see anything besides a dark outline of Niko and his blood red eyes. I intended to walk through the tree quickly, but Niko turned against me, slowing me to a stop. I looked up at him curiously.

"Does that mean I'm a weakness to you?" I asked what I'd heard Vienna say long ago.

"You've always been. Since the first night I met you," Niko answered, stepping closer to me and playing with my hair absently.

"But if I'm holding a large part of your shadow...," I began, stepping back against the tree solidly.

"Then if you get hurt, I get hurt. And if you die, I would feel it, too. With the mark, if I die, you may die, too. We are attached to each other fully now," Niko leaned over me, tracing a finger over my cheek delicately as he spoke under the secretive tree. "Gio was smart. He's given you an out, Rin. Do you want to go home?"

I realized then that Niko truly considered this to be my goal still. I missed my family, it was true. I missed the safety of my home and I missed the sunlight, but I had already found something I longed for more than my home here in Seola. I'd already told Kol, but I hadn't said it to Niko. Did he consider my love only for Kol?

"I haven't told you, have I?" I said to Niko, lifting my own hand to caress his face adoringly. "I was waiting for you to tell me first." Niko grabbed my hand lightly, turning his lips to kiss my fingertips lovingly.

"I've loved you for a long time, Corrine Adara," Niko said to me and I felt my insides flutter in response. I felt breathless for a moment, but then altogether joyful, even though a big part of me already knew all along that Niko loved me.

"I'm in love with you and I want to be with you," I confessed to Niko daringly, "I used to want to go home, but now I want to stay here with you and with Kol forever." Niko leaned forward to take my lips with his deeply. After a moment, he lifted me against the tree further, pulling up on my skirt. I broke the kiss with a gasp.

"W-wait. What are you-" I began, but Niko pressed his lips over mine once more to steal my breath. He began to undo his pants and I felt a heat of a blush on my face, turning my face away. "What if someone sees?!" I gasped in astonishment.

"No one will see," Niko growled hungrily and I shuddered in his arms. Before I could protest any further, he pushed himself into me powerfully. I gasped at his desire, crying out as he rocked into me in quick, deep strokes.

It was a quick moment of love. As Niko drove himself into me hungrily, a sudden voice cleared their throat from not too far away, and I almost screamed.

"Go away," Niko ordered, the sound of laughter behind his words.

"Prince Nikolas, your father has summoned you," Mr. Virgil's voice rang hesitantly.

"Then I will come," Niko replied simply, "Now go."

Without waiting to see if Mr. Virgil would leave, Niko began to push into me with renewed fervor, making me yelp with surprise.

"Wait," I gasped breathlessly.

"In a minute," Niko teased before picking up his pace. I cried out, my skin flushed and alight from pleasure as I felt something building up inside under his advances. I began to tense against him, my breath sporadic, and Niko also began to change his pace into one of hungry desire.

When the pleasure spilled over me with a cry, Niko also spasmed within me, sighing against me with satisfaction. When he released me, I felt entirely abuzz with happiness, but also flushed with embarrassment. Had any servants been nearby? Had Mr. Virgil stayed near? Did I look alright? Was my dress a mess or... or my hair?

I pouted at Niko firmly and he laughed humorously.

"Don't look at me like that or I might want to do it again," Niko teased me and I frowned further.

"Sometimes you and Kol are the same person," I responded shortly.

"Excuse me?" Niko asked with shock.

"I'm taking a bath. Take care," I said with a teasing bow before stumbling to escape the garden and leaving a stunned Niko in the background. Luckily, there were no guards or servants around that I could see to embarrass me when I left the garden. I came across a few people heading towards my bedchamber, but not much.

When I arrived, Vienna and Shan helped me bathe with knowing looks on their faces. But otherwise they didn't say anything about any dirt or twig they might find. I spent my time day dreaming about Niko confessing his love to me.

I finished bathing and went into my bedroom to begin picking out another dress for the day when I saw something that stopped me mid-step. Prince sat in my room waiting patiently and in my presence his head tilted as though confused why I didn't immediately run to him. I felt like I lost my breath for a minute.

"Prince!" I cried out, walking towards him before reaching for him to pull into a hug. His fur smelled just as I remembered and was just as soft. I just couldn't believe I finally had my Prince back in my arms. "Thank you for saving my life, Prince. Thank you."

I spent the rest of my time for the night with Prince, grooming him and talking away to him knowing that he would understand me. After some time, I began to do something different. I would randomly get up and open my door, greet Sir Anthony Acosta, the knight guarding me at the moment, and then go back in my room before repeating the process again.

After about the sixth time of doing this, Sir Anthony spoke up.

"Do you need anything, Lady Corrine?" Sir Anthony asked curiously, though something in his face told me he already knew who I was looking for. I paused, lifting my fingers to my lips as I wondered if it would be okay to say.

"Where is... Sir Giovanni?" I asked quietly.

"There is no Sir Giovanni," Sir Anthony responded before adding, "If you want me to summon your paramour, then I can, my Lady." I flushed red at the mention of his current title and immediately slammed the door shut. Paramour. I had asked to be friends, not this.

I opened the door again.

"What happens if I never summon him?" I asked Sir Anthony out of curiosity.

"He remains in the slave quarters doing slave work, my Lady," He told me simply.

I stared at him for a moment.

"Summon Gio for me," I finally ordered before shutting the door. I wasn't sure why I wanted to summon him, except to make things clear. And I apparently had a thing for collecting stray beasts whether they be daemons or shadow daemons.

After some time, there was a knock on my door and I allowed Gio to enter. His clothes were different, but despite their attempt to make him seem like some slave, he still looked as dangerous as he'd appeared as a guard.

"You summoned me, my Lady," Gio said expectantly.

"Sir Gio, I wanted to-" I began, but Gio cleared his throat.

"Sorry, Lady Rin, but I am no longer a knight. You can call me just Gio or Giovanni," He added simply. I suddenly felt apologetic, but at least he wasn't contained in some eternal prison.

"Gio," I said with hesitation, but then added, "You may be titled as my paramour, but I wanted to make it clear that you're not going to be my lover... not even a little bit. And I know you marked me to help me go home, but I don't want to go home. I'm coming to find this place as my home, actually."

"I am yours to do as you wish. If ever you want to go home, I can help you. If ever you want me to be your lover, then I will be," Gio said to me as though this idea wasn't a bad one to him in the first place. I turned impossibly red at his statement, but then felt a little curious.

"Is it true? That you... what you said to Prince Nikolas about me?" I asked curiously, my heart pounding loudly in my chest.

"It's true," He answered simply.

"You said since two years ago...," I said without continuing, frowning unhappily. Gio looked at me with interest for a moment, but then carefully cleared his face before speaking.

"I saw you sneaking around in the middle of the night two years ago. You dropped a bracelet you were wearing. I gave it back to you. I didn't think you'd remember me because you weren't looking at me, you were running back to where you'd been hidden. I fell for you instantly, otherwise I might've questioned the family why you were being hidden then," Gio explained to me a story I could now remember.

It was why I'd thought Gio was so familiar. I'd mistaken him for a human guard that night because I hadn't seen the crimson eyes or noticed any other attributes of being a daemon. The next time I saw him was the night Kol took me away. He'd been the guard to tell Kol that my father was looking for me. I'd seen him twice and never recognized truly until now.

"Then... please act as my personal guard and stay with me. And please act as my friend," I requested from Gio. He didn't look surprised by my request, probably because it was similar to many I'd made before, but he did pause quietly for a moment before answering.

"I am yours, Lady Rin. I will do whatever you ask of me," He answered, echoing his previous comment. I understood what he was saying. He didn't belong to the Prince any longer and he wouldn't answer to the King. He considered himself solely dedicated to me. It was what Niko wanted when he made the decision; if only to prevent me being the one dedicated to Gio through the mark. Instead of belonging to Prince Nikolas and Gio, I belonged to the Prince and Gio belonged to me.

However uncomfortable it made me, I also was given an idea. Something that had been bothering me for awhile was now echoing in my thoughts. This included the matter of the continued attempts and failures of assassination plans against myself. It also included one lady of high society by the name of Aurora Dior.

After the near poisoning attempt at her Estate, I had concluded that she must have been the one who was ordering assassins to take my life this entire time. Perhaps she'd heard of an engagement before the banquet and had someone ready to end me? The first time I had tea with her, maybe she had tried to put something in it which was why Prince stopped her. After all, she wanted to be the Queen of Seola and didn't like the idea of me taking her spot. This all seemed to make sense.

Then I recalled one of her servants swearing that Lady Aurora hadn't brewed the tea, which would mean she never actually touched my drink to put poison in it. And what really made me think further were the five assassins that Gio had to fight against. How would Lady Aurora have ordered more assassination attempts after being imprisoned? Wouldn't that mean it was someone else?

Or maybe both Lady Aurora and someone else...

"Gio, I want to visit Lady Aurora," I finally said to Gio determinedly.

"No," Gio replied immediately. I frowned.

"But you said you'd do as I asked. You know where she is, don't you?" I asked with a pout.

"I do. She's not in suitable shape for your eyes, my Lady," He replied stiffly.

I paused after this statement, wondering what exactly she must be going through for Gio to say such a thing. I wanted to heed his warning, but another part of me was being gnawed at by a thought and I desperately felt I needed to speak to Lady Aurora.

"I will manage," I said determinedly before adding, "Gio, please take me to Lady Aurora. I have something very important to discuss with her." I stood before him now, my hands in fists beside me as I stared him down firmly. If it took me a hundred requests, I would make each of them with all the time in the world in order to get what I wanted. Gio seemed to finally understand this and he sighed.

"I don't know what you could have to talk to Lady Aurora about, but I see you've made up your mind. You should leave the beast here, in case he decides to get revenge for the poison," Gio said to me with a partial sigh of defeat. I didn't want to part with Prince so soon after being back together again, but I also didn't want to have him attack Lady Aurora by accident.

After ordering Prince to stay behind, I waited before Gio expectantly. He stared at me for a moment, but then turned to begin leading me down the hall. Sir Anthony followed behind us in the distance. I glanced to see if he'd be confused, but he either didn't care or he heard everything.

Gio led me through the halls, down stairs, just as he had so long ago when I'd first been taken to see Kol in his own dungeon. Now we went even deeper, where it felt as though warmth fled from the air leaving only the cold. After we went through a specific door, Gio gave me a small light so that I could see in the darkness of the hall.

The further we went, the more suffocating it felt. I was afraid, even though I had Gio before me and Sir Anthony behind me. I felt as though I would become trap in this darkness. And when the bars of cages began to appear, I imagined being caged behind them. It was maddening just to imagine.

It was in one of these cages that a lump of a form was lying on the dirty, steel floor. The smell was almost too much, much less the image of what used to be Lady Aurora being transformed into this malnourished creature. I stepped closer to the cage bar and was pulled back by Gio's grip on my arm protectively.

"Don't get too close. She may not be able to feed off of you, but she can still manage to hurt you," Gio said to me carefully. I looked at him briefly, but then pulled my arm away carefully before stepping closer again.

"Lady Aurora," I said to her softly, "I want to help you... I want to prove you are deserving of help. Won't you speak to me?" The creature that used to be of such beauty only peeked with her crimson eyes in the darkness towards me. For a moment, she reminded me of Prince when I'd first found him in the garden; hiding but snapping when getting too close.

"Why should you help me?" Lady Aurora's voice crackled painfully in the quiet. "I tried to poison you, didn't I?" Her voice was filled with scorn and sarcasm.

"I overheard one of your servants say that you didn't brew that tea at all, is that true?" I asked her. Any person who wanted to be free would obviously say they didn't poison me, even if they actually did, but Lady Aurora had a lot of pride. It was clear in the way she'd claimed the tea was brewed by her, as though this were something to be viewed as highly admirable. To claim otherwise would dub her a liar and bring shame to her.

"What does it matter? It was my tea in the end. I won't live to tell tales," She responded in a manner I fully expected. I crouched down before the cage so that I would no longer be towering above her form.

"Since the first night I met you, I've been attacked by one assassin after another. I've been nearly killed. My family has been hurt and even my shadow beast nearly lost his life. After the poisoning, I thought it was all you, Lady Aurora," I said to her, my voice cold even to my own ears as I described these attacks to her. "My guard was harmed by five assassins recently. Did you call to them from here?"

Lady Aurora was silent for a long time, so much so that I was concerned she wouldn't speak to me further. It really would be a shame; for her to remain here purely out of pride. But then if she was truly the one causing the attacks on me...

Lady Aurora abruptly burst out laughing. I jerked with surprise, but didn't move away.

"Call them from here?" She finally said hysterically. She abruptly lifted herself and I could finally see her full form in the light. There was no dress, but rather rags hanging from her severely injured body. She'd clearly been tortured and starved. Even her hair had been cut away with only patches remaining. My eyes widened at the site, wondering if Kol or Niko had been in charge of this torture themselves. "How? How can I call a single soul from this pit of Hell?"

I stood to face her without flinching further.

"Then the other attacks. Was this you?"

"I've never attacked you, Lady Corrine. And I wish I'd never even spoken to you," She said to me determinedly, a fresh hatred on her face as she looked at me that I'd never seen before. I stepped back just once, but then tightened my hands into fist.

"Never? Not even the poison?" I pushed further for the truth.

"I lied! I didn't touch the tea. Isn't that what you wanted me to admit, that I'm so vain I'd lie about tea. Well, now we all know. Now leave me to rot and enjoy your life with that mad beast of a prince," She hissed at me before turning away to hide in her corner. I knew no matter what I would say, she would no longer speak to me. But I'd gotten what I wanted; the truth. Lady Aurora hadn't been the one to send those assassins to me and she hadn't been the one to try to poison me.

Someone else was to blame for it and they were letting Lady Aurora take the fall.

I followed Gio and Sir Anthony out of the darkness with a renewed idea in my brain. I would have to talk to Niko, of course, and explain to him everything. Then I would plead for Lady Aurora to be set free. She was innocent, after all. Even if she didn't like me, I couldn't just sit by while someone innocent was tortured and put to execution for something involving me. So I resolved to free her and to find out who it was who truly wished me dead if not her.

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Music: Módl- Faith